Author

PAULO B. LOURENCO AND JAN G. ROTS
Delft University of Technology
Abstract

A lot of effort is currently being put into research on homogenisation techniques for the analysis of masonry structures. The performance of the two step homogenisation, which is based on the assumption of layered materials, is evaluated in the present paper by means of two examples. It is shown that large errors are likely to occur in this homogenisation process if large differences of stiffness (> 10) between the two masonry constituents are found. Therefore, the use of this technique in the presence of nonlinear material behaviour calls for great care.